Kunal Botla
ABOUT ME
Student and Many Other Things
I'm a student at Lexington High School interested in technology and current events. I'm currently the founder of Project Boom and an alum of Acera School. My favorite language is Swift, but I also use other programming languages. I'm also part of a robotics team at MIT Lincoln Labs and part of the LHS debate team along with the many projects I have been working on.
EXPERIENCE
Project Boom
May 2020 – Present | Founder and Director
At Project Boom, I manage, oversee, and execute all aspects of the project both short-term and long-term. I directly manage or handle internal technology, refurbishment, community relations, sponsorships, communication with donors, and anything and everything else not done by someone else.
ROLL at MIT Lincoln Labs
September 2019 – Present | FTC 7297 LiMITless Team Member
- I am part of one of the two FTC robotics teams at Lincoln Labs. In the team, we build a robot to accomplish a challenge in the best way possible. In 2019, I worked on all the elements of the robot but primarily worked on the software and motor control systems of the robot.
Infinite Analytics
May 2019 – Present | Intern
- Since May 2019, I have been an intern for Infinite Analytics primarily working on website maintenance and more recently, the development and content to display on a new website.
EDUCATION
Lexington High School (Lexington, Massachusetts)
2019 – 2023 (Current) | High School
Acera School (Winchester, Massachusetts)
2013 – 2019 | STEM Elementary & Middle School
Shishu Bharathi (Lexington, Massachusetts)
2011 – 2019 | Indian Language & Culture School
PROJECTS
Project Boom ↗
Since 2020 | Various Technologies and Skills
At Project Boom there are various skills that I've learned and used. I've done things including building the website, the Airtable based backend, Amazon SES based email service, 501(c)(3) regulation and Massachusetts corporate law, and Stripe payment processing.
PRESS
"Former Acera student helping refurbish, donate used computers" ↗
September 10, 2020 - Winchester Star | Published digitally and in print.
"How to Both Work and School From Home" ↗
September 5, 2020 - The New York Times | Published digitally and in print on Sept. 6, 2020, Section D, Page 4 of the New York edition.
"Student-run nonprofit fixes, donates computers" ↗
August 31, 2020 - Lexington Minuteman | Published digitally and on the front page of the Sept. 3, 2020 print.
"Lexington students showcase projects" ↗
December 18, 2018 - Lexington Minuteman | Published digitally and in print.
SKILLS
Swift
- Xcode
- iOS
- macOS
- watchOS
Other
- Tennis
- HTML
- Git
- WordPress
- Sketch
- UI Design
- Photoshop
- Illustrator
- Figma
CONTACT
- kunalbotla.com ↗
- projects.kunalbotla.com ↗
- info.kunalbotla.com ↗
- linkedin.com/kunalbotla ↗
- Lexington / Cambridge, MA
- kunal@kunalbotla.com
- +1 (339) 970-8824
ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE & PROJECTS AT LEXINGTON HIGH SCHOOL
Lexington High School Robotics Club / Team
September 2019 – Present | Team Member
Since tenth grade, I've been part of the LHS Robotics team. In nineth grade, I was part of the LHS Robotics Club; the beginner team that is required to go to higher levels.
Lexington High School Photography Club
September 2019 – Present | Club Member & Leader (Starting in the 2021 Academic Year)
Since September 2019, I have been part of the LHS Photography Club in which we share photos we took within the group and beyond through the club's website and social media. We also plan and go to places as a group to take pictures. Recently, I was offered the opportunity to become one of the club leaders for next year and be a bigger part of the planning.
Lexington High School Debate Team
August 2019 – Present | Varsity Public Forum
I'm part of the varsity public forum team at Lexington High School. In the 2019 academic year I joined as part of the novice team but primarly debated in varsity divisions that year.
2020 Harvard Invitational
2020 Lexington Winter Invitational
2019 The Princeton Classic
2019 Little Lexington (MA State Qualification)
2019 The Scarsdale Invitational
2019 Tim Averill Invitational
ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE & PROJECTS AT ACERA SCHOOL
Acera Yearbook Team
May – June 2019 | Member
In my eigth grade year at Acera, I was part of the yearbook team. I mainly managed the elements of the yearbook and worked on collecting images from all the different teachers and other sources.
Acera Student Outreach Team
March 2019 – June 2019 | Member
Towards the end of my eigth grade year at Acera, I was offered to join a newly formed formal outreach team as part of Acera's links to other communities.
March 2019 - Cambridge Youth Programs Food Science Cafe
April 2019 - Acera at the Cambridge Science Festival Carnival & Robot Zoo
Acera Friay Lunch / Pizza Team
September 2018 – June 2019 | Main Lead
For lunch every Friday at Acera a group of students managed serving pizza to the other students. I was part of the team for my 8th-grade yeah at Acera and was the main person who managed it. I changed the system to be one that could be repeated every year without much change. I also documented everything and automated most of the simple tasks like calculating how much and the cost of pizza.
Acera Student Technology Team
September 2015 – June 2019 | Selected Member
For four of my years at Acera, I was part of the student tech team to learn about technology and be involved in the technology systems at Acera. As part of it, we helped others in the school based on what we knew and we able to learn.
Acera Fall 2018 Innovator Symposium
October 2018 | Co-facilitator
In October 2018, I helped run the Fall Innovator Symposium by helping set up and helping presenters at the event.
Acera Debate Team/Club
September 2016 – June 2018 | Public Forum Debater & Team Member
At Acera as part of the debate team, we got to learn about significant current events and different prospectives held by people. As part of this, we also got to debate in novice divisions of high school debate tournaments in Massachusetts.
2018 March Merryness
2017 Little Lexington
2017 Harvard National Forensics Tournament
2016 Little Lexington
ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE & PROJECTS WITHOUT AFFILIATION
Library Leadership Council
January 2019 – Present | Member
At the Cary Memorial Library in Lexington, I am part of the Library Leadership Club which plans, sets up, and runs events and programs for the general community of Lexington.
MIT Blueprint
February 2020 | Participant
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Scratch Day 2019 @ MIT Media Lab
May 2019 | Volunteer
At Scratch Day @ MIT 2019, I helped with running the event on the day of mainly running one of the stations where people could be introduced to Scratch programing and make a graphic design.
Scratch Day 2018 @ MIT Media Lab
May 2018 | Volunteer
At Scratch Day @ MIT 2018, I helped with running the event on the day of.
Scratch Day 2017 @ MIT Media Lab
May 2017 | Volunteer
At Scratch Day @ MIT 2017, I helped with running one of the stations being run.
Scratch Workshop
December 2016
In December 2016, the friend and I that ran the weekly workshop were asked to run a lesson on Scratch programming at an event that was being hosted.
Tech Workshop
May 2016 – June 2016
From May to June 2016, a friend and I ran weekly workshops to teach kids about different technologies. We taught them about Scratch programming, how motors work, and basic electrical circuits.
SKILLS
Swift
Middle Level
Good parts: pure function, higher-order functions, factory functions, composition. Bad parts: inheritance, this, new.
- ES6
- Vue
- Functional Programming
- Node
Other
- CSS
- Rust
- Git
- Go
- Linux Server
- UI Design
- Photoshop
- Illustrator
- Figma
- Typography